It is well known that when operating equipment or a component that is sensitive to electrostatic discharge, operators must be grounded to prevent electrostatic damage to the sensitive equipment/component. Guidelines such as ANSI/ESDA S.20.20 standards (available at www.esda.org) provide requirements for operators to be grounded. These guidelines are typically met by requiring each operator to wear a wristband that is electrically connected to a grounding jack. Although the grounded wristband method seems like a sound solution in theory, it has proven to be highly unreliable in practice. Many operators do not follow the manufacturing procedure that requires them to wear the grounded wristbands because connecting the wristbands to the grounding jack is an inconvenient process, the wire that connects the wristband to the grounding jack interferes with movement, or because the operators forget to put them on. Sometimes, an operator mistakenly believes that he is grounded after putting on a wristband when in fact, the wristband is not securely connected to the grounding jack. For example, the wristband is sometimes worn over the operator's sleeve, making no direct connection to the operator. Due to the low reliability of the current wristband-based grounding system, many expensive manufacturing equipment continue to be damaged or destroyed by electrostatic discharge.
As mentioned above, one of the reasons operators fail to be properly grounded is because the process of connecting the wristband to the grounding jack is cumbersome, complicated, and/or inconvenient. Since operators are required to connect the wristband to the grounding jack every time they approach the sensitive equipment/component, and to disconnect the wristband every time they move away from the equipment/component, they often have to connect and disconnect their wristband numerous times in one day. Thus, any process but a very simple and quick connection/disconnection process becomes burdensome.
It is just as important for the operator to disconnect himself when leaving the designated area as for him to connect himself upon entering the designated area. If an operator leaves the equipment without disconnecting the wristband from the grounding jack, the connection wire may get stretched beyond its acceptable tension level and become damaged. The connectors that connect the wire to the grounding jack may also become damaged.
For the above reasons, a more reliable grounding system and method are desired. In order to be more reliable, the grounding system has to provide a quick and easy way for operators to ground/de-ground themselves and reduce the chances that an operator will forget to ground/de-ground himself as is appropriate.